HC Deb 13 December 1960 vol 632 cc212-3
46. Mr. Healey

asked the Prime Minister whether he will invite the Soviet Prime Minister to join him in setting up a committee of experts to study the technical problems involved in controlling arms and forces in an agreed area of Europe, as proposed in their joint communiqué in March, 1959.

The Prime Minister

No, Sir. I do not think this matter can be dealt with except multilaterally.

Mr. Healey

In view of the importance which the Prime Minister very reasonably attaches to such expert study of very difficult and complicated questions, and in view of the great advantages which he and Mr. Khrushchev saw in some such arrangement in Central Europe, if the right hon. Gentleman is not prepared to make bilateral arrangements of this type, will he propose at the N.A.T.O. Council that N.A.T.O. should approach the Soviet Government with a view to multilateral studies along these lines?

The Prime Minister

We must think about the exact forum for these discussions, but in the course of the next year, which will be a very difficult but perhaps very creative year in the history of Europe, I will bear in mind the anxiety which the hon. Member feels and my own strong feeling that some progress might be made along those lines.

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